Awkward Silences
by Alli Dubinsky
Summary: Ron realizes his love for Hermione, but will his feelings be returned? Rated for brief mild language. HGRW
1. Awkward Silences

Chapter One  
  
For sixteen-year-old Harry Potter, the summer holiday had been quite relaxing. This year, unlike last year, things got off on the right foot: after only several days living with the Dursleys, Harry had received an owl from Remus Lupin, inviting him back to 12 Grimmauld Place in London on behalf of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry had been having a good time with Ron and Hermione, but even though Harry was surrounded by friends, it was still a bit depressing to be living in Sirius's house after what had happened at the end of the school year. Nonetheless, it was a comfort to be in the company of those who appreciated him, as opposed to his Muggle relatives.

With only three weeks left of the summer holiday, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were trying to spend as much time as they could relaxing. Luckily, Hermione had pressed them all to do their homework at the beginning of the break, and they had done all their shopping in Diagon Alley the week before, so they had nothing on their minds. Harry's scar had done almost no prickling lately, so apart from when they were attempting to eavesdrop on the regular meetings of the Order, Lord Voldemort was not much of a concern.

On this particularly humid August day, the four of them were lounging about in Harry and Ron's room. Ginny and Ron were going head to head in a game of chess.

"Ha!" Ron exclaimed "Checkmate! So...play again?"

Ginny's response seemed only natural to Harry and Hermione. "And lose to you for the fifth time in a row? Forget it! Besides, I'm thirsty. I'm going to fetch a glass of water."

"I'll come, too," Harry said quickly. As he and Ginny stepped out into the hallway, he added in a low tone to Ginny, "It's so obvious that Ron fancies Hermione! I just wish he'd say something already. I'm hoping giving them a moment alone will do the trick."

"I know exactly what you mean! He gazes in her direction almost too frequently...I'm starting to worry that he's obsessive compulsive."  
  
Meanwhile, Ron was trying to create conversation with Hermione without saying something he'd regret. _Why_, he thought, _did Harry have to leave me alone with her?_

"So," he said, "um, how's your summer been going?"

"The same as yours, Ron. I've been with you the entire time...are you feeling okay?"

Ron's cheeks turned a shade a bit lighter than his hair. "I'm fine, I guess, thanks for asking."

Ron looked down at the floor. His conversations with Hermione always turned out to be so awkward! He didn't remember when it had started to feel weird like this, but now he knew something had changed. He sighed, as thoughts began to race wildly through his head. He glanced upward at Hermione, and realized that she was staring at him. Quickly looking back down, he realized his heart had begun pounding in his chest, and he felt as if several dozen Cornish Pixies had been set loose in his stomach. A new thought struck him: perhaps he fancied Hermione! Of course, why hadn't he thought of it before?

_Perhaps I should say something about it_, he thought. _She's probably noticed it ages before I did. Yes, that's it, I'll say something._ Opening his mouth to speak, he found that he couldn't speak; only a sort of grunting noise came out. _Why can't I just tell her? It shouldn't be that hard! All I have to do is open my stupid mouth and say, "Hermione, I fancy you."_

Upon deciding to try again, he opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Ginny bursting in through the door which had been open a crack. Ginny and Harry had been listening from outside, and when Ginny had heard the awkward silence, she had decided to take action.

"Mum said to tell you that dinner is almost ready. Says we should wash up," she said quickly. Then, seeing Ron's mouth still open, she added, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything."

"No," Hermione replied, "we were just talking. Come on Ron, we all have to wash up."

_Just my luck,_ thought Ron, as they exited into the hallway. _Oh well, maybe I'll try again after dinner._


	2. Sinking Hearts, Raging Minds

Chapter 2  
  
Everyone had washed up and went straight to the kitchen; it was already 8 o'clock, and they'd had an early tea. Naturally, they were aching for Molly's cooking. They all made their way into the dining room and sat down at the large table. An order meeting would be held tonight, but Harry and Ginny were too busy scheming to try to get Ron and Hermione together to care, and Ron, of course, had other things on his mind. His recent discovery was haunting his mind, and he couldn't think of exactly what he was going to say to Hermione.  
  
_Sure,_ Ron thought, _there's always the old, "Hermione, I fancy you,"_ but he thought she deserved something better. He was also having second thoughts about asking her at all. _Forget deserving a better way to be asked, what if Hermione deserved someone better than him entirely?_ In the end, he decided to concentrate on food, especially after his mother expressed a concern.  
  
"Are you alright, Ron, dear? You've hardly touched your plate..."  
  
"Yes," agreed Hermione, "you've been acting odd all day."  
  
"I'm fine," mumbled Ron, digging in.  
  
Ginny and Harry exchanged glances. They knew almost for sure that Ron had been thinking about Hermione. Now all they had to do was figure out if Hermione felt the same way.  
  
That night, as they got ready to settle in for the night, Ginny said to Hermione, "What do you think of the way Ron's been acting lately?"  
  
Hermione replied with a sigh, "He's been quite out of it...I'm starting to worry about him! In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he fancied me!"  
  
"Oh," Ginny responded after a pause, "I see. And, do you, ahem, fancy him?"  
  
"Well, I wouldn't say I fancy him exactly. After all, we've been friends for such a long time, it seems impossible that I could ever think of, you know, _dating_ him."  
  
At this point, Ron was passing the girls' room on the way to his own. He paused at the door just in time to hear Hermione and Ginny's conversation. His heart sank as he solemnly proceeded down the hallway, which now seemed longer than ever. _Shit. Why do things like this always seem to happen to me? And why does it have to take this long to get to my damn room? All I want is some sleep, but I can't even have that, can I?  
_  
Finally, after what seemed like forever, Ron reached the door to the room. Pulling it open, he flopped over onto his bed, not even bothering to change into his pajamas, or pull down the bedclothes. Frankly, he just didn't care anymore.  
  
In the bed next to Ron's, Harry appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but in truth, his mind was full of confused thoughts. _Why couldn't I just have tried harder with my occlumency? If I had put any effort into it, I wouldn't have gone to the Department of Mysteries that night, and Sirius would still be alive!_ Another part of him said, _What's done is done! There's absolutely nothing you can do about it now! Stop blaming yourself, because it just won't do you any good!  
_  
In the end, both boys drifted off to sleep, full of rage and anger, but both with reasons they would keep to themselves. 


	3. More Realizations

Chapter 3  
  
Hermione stopped speaking. Hearing the floorboards creak outside the door, she opened it a crack, just in time to see Ron walking briskly down the hallway toward his and Harry's room. _Did he hear the conversation Ginny and I had?_ she wondered to herself.  
  
Her first thought was to follow him, but she thought better of it—if he _had_ heard, what did he think? The way he walked toward his room did not look casual. What if...?  
  
That's when it hit her; spinning around, she almost shouted, "Ginny! Does Ron...does he, er, _fancy me by any chance?_"  
  
"Well, erm, yes," Ginny replied, trying to look innocent.  
  
"And when, when in the world did you plan on telling me this?"  
  
"Um...I actually wasn't planning to."  
  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WEREN'T PLANNING TO TELL ME?" Hermione roared. "WHAT DO YOU TAKE ME FOR?"  
  
"Calm down, Hermione! Some people in this house are trying to sleep, you'll wake them all up! Anyway, it isn't like I was just going to not say anything. I was holding off on it until I had more information—I didn't want anyone to get hurt."  
  
"Sorry, lost my temper for a minute there. Anyway--"  
  
"So I'm going to ask you one more time," Ginny cut in, "Do you or do you not fancy Ronald Weasley?"  
  
Trying to avoid answering, Hermione teased, "Hey, Ginevra, since when do you use his full first name?"  
  
"Don't 'Ginevra' me! It's Ginny! And you haven't answered the question!"  
  
"Well..." said Hermione slowly. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Hermione's stomach turned cartwheels as she thought, _Maybe it's Ron_!  
  
"Who is it?" Ginny said, sighing.  
  
"It's Mum!" Mrs. Weasley replied with a note of tiredness in her voice. "Did I hear yelling, girls? Is everything okay?"  
  
"Everything's fine, Mum, nothing!" Ginny called back. "Go back to sleep!"  
  
They heard Molly's footsteps as she walked away slowly, yawning.  
  
"Answer the question already!" said Ginny, who was getting tired of asking.  
  
"Well," Hermione replied slowly, remembering the excitement she had felt while wondering if it was Ron outside the door, "well, um...yes."  
  
"Ha! We knew it, Harry and I! We knew you two fancied each other! Now, how to get you two together..."  
  
For the next couple hours, the girls giggled madly as they plotted and schemed crazy ways to get the point across to Ron. Little did they know, a lot had changed tonight. 


End file.
